ween
the horrors.

Sir Nathaniel agreed.

"We know, my boy," he said, "that the unfortunate Lady Arabella is dead,
and that the foul carcase of the Worm has been torn to pieces--pray God
that its evil soul will never more escape from the nethermost hell."

They visited Diana's Grove first, not only because it was nearer, but
also because it was the place where most description was required, and
Adam felt that he could tell his story best on the spot. The absolute
destruction of the place and everything in it seen in the broad daylight
was almost inconceivable. To Sir Nathaniel, it was as a story of horror
full and complete. But to Adam it was, as it were, only on the fringes.
He knew what was still to be seen when his friends had got over the
knowledge of externals. As yet, they had only seen the outside of the
house--or rather, where the outside of the house once had been. The
great horror lay within. However, age--and the experience of age--counts.

A strange, almost elemental, change in the aspect had taken place in the
time which had elapsed since the dawn. It would almost seem as if Nature
herself had tried to obliterate the evil signs of what had occurred.
True, the utter ruin of the house was made even more manifest in the
searching daylight; but the more appalling destruction which lay beneath
was not visible. The rent, torn, and dislocated stonework looked worse
than before; the upheaved foundations, the piled-up fragments of masonry,
the fissures in the torn earth--all were at the worst. The Worm's hole
was still evident, a round fissure seemingly leading down into the very
bowels of the earth. But all the horrid mass of blood and slime, of
torn, evil-smelling flesh and the sickening remnants of violent death,
were gone. Either some of the later explosions had thrown up from the
deep quantities of water which, though foul and corrupt itself, had still
some cleansing power left, or else the writhing mass which stirred from
far below had helped to drag down and obliterate the items of horror. A
grey dust, partly of fine sand, partly of the waste of the falling ruin,
covered everything, and, though ghastly itself, helped to mask something
still worse.

After a few minutes of watching, it became apparent to the three men that
the turmoil far below had not yet ceased. At short irregular intervals
the hell-broth in the hole seemed as if boiling up. It rose and fell
again and turned over, showing i